Apparatus and method for displaying multiple display panels with a progressive relationship using cognitive pattern recognition

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for searching and displaying an email string including inputting one or more search text, wherein the search text is associated with one or more highlight option; searching the email string with the search text, wherein the email string includes at least one email, and wherein the at least one email includes email information, email body and/or email attachment; and displaying the email sting in a horizontal or vertical manner on a display that includes a first column, a second column and a third column. In one example, the first column displays the email information, the second column displays the email body and the third column displays the email attachment, and wherein the search text is found in one of the email information, the email body or the email attachment.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 120

The present application for patent is a continuation of patentapplication Ser. No. 15/907,265 entitled “Apparatus and Method forDisplaying Multiple Display Panels With a Progressive Relationship UsingCognitive Pattern Recognition” filed on Feb. 27, 2018, pending, which isa continuation in part of patent application Ser. No. 15/678,932entitled “Apparatus and Method for Displaying Multiple Display PanelsWith a Progressive Relationship Using Cognitive Pattern Recognition”filed Aug. 16, 2017, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,459,984 on Oct. 29, 2019which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 13/305,665entitled “Apparatus and Method for Displaying Multiple Display PanelsWith a Progressive Relationship Using Cognitive Pattern Recognition”filed Nov. 28, 2011 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,772,999 on Sep. 26,2017 which is a continuation in part of patent application Ser. No.13/280,281 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search ResultsUsing Cognitive Pattern Recognition in Locating Documents andInformation Within” filed Oct. 24, 2011, issued as U.S. Pat. No.10,467,273 on Nov. 5, 2019 and all assigned to the assignee hereof andhereby expressly incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forthbelow and for all applicable purposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to apparatus and methods forvisual presentation of search results. More particularly, the disclosurerelates to visually presenting search results to enable use of cognitivepattern recognition.

BACKGROUND

In current document files, it is known that many documents with similaror even identical words exist. Thus, with the commonality of words andphrases in different documents or even different versions of thedocuments, it is time consuming to find an exact document quickly andefficiently. Often, a keyword search could produce a list of manydocuments with the same word and even include all the various versionsof the different documents containing the keyword. This is especiallyproblematic if the keyword used in the search is a common word for aparticular application. Additionally, a document may include one or moreattachments. In conventional searching and presentation of searchresults, there is no differentiation of whether the locations of thekeyword are in the document and/or in the one or more attachments.

SUMMARY

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for searching and displayingresults using cognitive pattern recognition. According to one aspect, amethod for searching and displaying using cognitive pattern recognitionincluding searching for at least one document with at least one searchtext, wherein each of the at least one search text is associated with ahighlight option; selecting to enable or to disable the highlight optionfor each of the at least one search text; displaying a progressiverelationship of the at least one document in scaled common image format(CIF), wherein displaying the progressive relationship includesdisplaying the following: a first display presenting the at least onedocument, wherein each of the at least one document includes all of theat least one search text; a second display presenting only pages fromthe at least one document where the only pages presented include one ormore of the at least one search text with its associated highlightoption enabled; and a third display presenting one page from the onlypages wherein all occurrences of the search text where the highlightoption for the search text is enabled are displayed simultaneously onthe page.

According to another aspect, an apparatus for searching and displayingusing cognitive pattern recognition, the apparatus comprising aprocessor and a memory, the memory containing program code executable bythe processor for performing the following: searching for at least onedocument with at least one search text, wherein each of the at least onesearch text is associated with a highlight option; selecting to enableor to disable the highlight option for each of the at least one searchtext; displaying a progressive relationship of the at least one documentin scaled common image format (CIF), wherein displaying the progressiverelationship includes displaying the following: a first displaypresenting the at least one document, wherein each of the at least onedocument includes all of the at least one search text; a second displaypresenting only pages from the at least one document where the onlypages presented include one or more of the at least one search text withits associated highlight option enabled; and a third display presentingone page from the only pages wherein all occurrences of the search textwhere the highlight option for the search text is enabled are displayedsimultaneously on the page.

According to another aspect, a method for searching and displaying anemail string, the method including a user inputting at least one searchtext, wherein one of the at least one search text is associated with ahighlight option; searching the email string with the at least onesearch text, wherein the email string comprises at least one email, andwherein the at least one email includes at least one email information,at least one email body and at least one email attachment; anddisplaying the email sting in a horizontal manner on a display, whereinthe display comprises a first column, a second column and a thirdcolumn, and wherein the first column displays the at least one emailinformation, the second column displays the at least one email body andthe third column displays one or more of the at least one emailattachment, and wherein the at least one search text is found in one ofthe at least one email information, the at least one email body or theat least one email attachment.

In one example, the method further includes enabling the highlightoption. In one example, the at least one search text is found in the atleast one email attachment. In one example, the at least one emailattachment includes a first email attachment and a second emailattachment, wherein the at least one search text is found in the firstemail attachment and the at least one search text is not found in thesecond email attachment. In one example, the second email attachment isdisplayed in phantom format. In one example, the first email attached isdisplayed as multiple pages. In one example, the method further includesdisplaying a symbol on the multiple pages for indicating that the atleast one search text is found on the multiple pages. In one example,the method further includes sorting the at least one email attachment bydocument type. In one example, the display includes a fourth column andwherein the first email attachment is a first document type and thesecond email attachment is a second document type. In one example, themethod further includes displaying the first email attachment in thethird column and displaying the second email attachment in the fourthcolumn. In one example, the method further includes flipping the displayfrom the horizontal manner to a vertical manner.

Advantages of the present disclosure may include reducing the steps andtime needed to search for an object (e.g., a document) or informationwithin the object. Another advantage may include increased accuracy andbuilt in fault tolerance, for example, for OCR (optical characterrecognition) errors and misfiles in locating an object or informationwithin the object.

It is understood that other aspects will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following detailed description,wherein it is shown and described various aspects by way ofillustration. The drawings and detailed description are to be regardedas illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a first example of a flow diagram for searching anddisplaying results using cognitive pattern recognition.

FIG. 2 illustrates a first example of pages of at least one or moredocument where the search text exists wherein a highlight option isdisabled.

FIG. 3 illustrates a first example of pages of at least one or moredocument where the search text exists wherein a highlight option isenabled.

FIG. 4 illustrates the first example of FIG. 2 where some of the pagesare presented with a visual distinction (i.e., in a different format)than the rest of the pages.

FIG. 5 illustrates the second example of FIG. 3 where some of the pagesare presented with a visual distinction (i.e., in a different format)than the rest of the pages.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a device comprising a processor incommunication with a memory for executing the algorithms in the flowdiagrams illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 12 .

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a device suitable for searching anddisplaying results using cognitive pattern recognition in the flowdiagram illustrated in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 8 illustrates a first example of a set of documents displayed froma search result.

FIG. 9 illustrates a second example of a set of documents displayed froma search result.

FIG. 10 illustrates a third example of a set of documents displayed froma search result.

FIG. 11 illustrates a fourth example of a set of documents displayedfrom a search result.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second example of a flow diagram for searching anddisplaying results using cognitive pattern recognition.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a device suitable for searching anddisplaying results using cognitive pattern recognition in the flowdiagram illustrated in FIG. 12 .

FIGS. 14 a-c illustrate an example of a set of documents displayed froma search result in accordance with the three displays described in FIG.12 .

FIG. 15 illustrates an example display of an e-mail string in a verticalmanner.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example display of the e-mail string of FIG. 15in a horizontal manner.

FIG. 17 illustrates a first example search result summary.

FIG. 18 illustrates a second example search result summary.

FIG. 19 illustrates a third example search result summary.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a progressive display of three panels:Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various aspects of the presentdisclosure and is not intended to represent the only aspects in whichthe present disclosure may be practiced. Each aspect described in thisdisclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration of thepresent disclosure, and should not necessarily be construed as preferredor advantageous over other aspects. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without thesespecific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devicesare shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the conceptsof the present disclosure. Acronyms and other descriptive terminologymay be used merely for convenience and clarity and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure.

While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies areshown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood andappreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts,as some acts may, in accordance with one or more aspects, occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown anddescribed herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understandand appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented asa series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement amethodology in accordance with one or more aspects.

A search may be based on not just words contained in a document, butalso the user's memory of a visual image of the document and/or theapproximate date of the document. For example, different documents orversions of a same document may contain many identical keywords.However, the visual presentation (i.e., display) of the first page (orany other page) of different documents or types of documents may differ.Thus, there's a need for a search & display approach that can utilizethe aspects of keyword searching and visual presentation (i.e., display)of the document being searched to quickly and efficiently locate thedocument in a document repository (e.g., database). For example, thehuman brain can quickly identify the visual pattern of a neededdocument(s) using cognitive pattern recognition (CPR), and distinguishbetween like document patterns using metadata tags displayed alongsidethe document display in scaled CIF. One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that a document repository may include an electronicrepository or an electronic database.

FIG. 1 illustrates a first example of a flow diagram 100 for searchingand displaying results using cognitive pattern recognition. In block110, search at least one document for at least one search text, whereinthe at least one search text is associated with a highlight option. Inone example, the highlight option allows a user to determine whichsearch text should be differentiated from the remaining text of adocument when the search text found within the document. Thedifferentiation allows a user to quickly distinguish the search textfrom the rest of the remaining text. In one example, the search textwith the highlight option enabled is differentiated from the remainingtext of the document in one or more of the following manner: highlightedby a different color (i.e., color differentiation), bolded, italicized,underlined, etc. One skilled in the art would understand that the listof ways to “differentiate” a text from the remaining text as presentedherein is not an exclusive list and that other manners ofdifferentiating a search text may be part of the highlight optionwithout affecting the scope and/or spirit of the present disclosure.

In one example, the highlight option includes a color differentiation(e.g., a yellow color) added to a search text. In another example, thehighlight option includes varying the fonts, the mark-ups, or an addedvisual distinction to the search text. In yet another example, thehighlight option includes adding a border around the search text. Oneskilled in the art would understand that the examples listed of thehighlight option are not limiting and that other examples ofdifferentiating a search text from the rest of the text on a page of adocument are within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

In one aspect, different search text may be associated with differenthighlight options. For example, a first search text may be highlightedin yellow while a second search text may be bolded. One skilled in theart would understand that multiple search text may be associated withdifferent highlight options, that is, with different examples ofdistinguishing the multiple search text from each.

A “search text” as used in the present disclosure may be a single word,a collection of words (i.e., a phrase of contiguous words), a symbol, aregular expression, a number, a special character and/or any combinationthereof. In one aspect, the at least one search text comprises multiplesearch text to be searched concurrently with one or more documents. Inone example, a search text (a.k.a. search term) is a keyword, a date ordate range, a metadata, etc. As used in the present disclosure, theterms “search text” and “search term” are synonymous and usedinterchangeably.

In one aspect, the at least one document is searched based on one ormore of the following: an attribute, an attribute range or a specialdefinition. For example, an attribute may be a significant identifiersuch as a social security number and the search might involve a single,multiple (within a range) or all SSNs within documents in a repository.For example, an attribute may be a special symbol or a specialcharacter. For example, an attribute range may be all dates within aspecified range (e.g., from Jan. 1, 2000-Dec. 30, 2010). For example, anattribute range may be all amounts found within a range (e.g., $50,000to $100,000 or 1 liter to 1000 liters, etc.) within documents. In oneaspect, the special definition may be a list of predefined synonyms. Inanother aspect, the special definition may be a list of antonyms.

Following block 110, in block 120, select to enable or to disable thehighlight option. In one example, the highlight option associated withone search text is enabled, such that, for example, the search textwould be highlighted in yellow each time it occurs on a page of adocument of a repository or database. In one example, the repository isthe Internet. In another example, the repository is a private database.In one example with multiple search text, each of the search text isassociated with a highlight option which may be enabled or disabled.And, in another example, multiple search text with their highlightoption enabled may be differentiated differently (i.e., distinctly) fromeach other. For example, a first search text with its highlight optionenabled may be bolded, a second search text with its highlight optionenabled may be underlined, a third search text with its highlight optionenabled may be italicized. And, another search text may have itshighlight option disabled such that it is not differentiated from theremaining text (non-searched text) of the document.

In block 130, present a quantity of the at least one document in ascaled common image format (CIF). One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that presenting a quantity of the at least one document (asdefined in block 130) may include presenting one or more documents.

In one aspect, a scaled common image format (CIF) is a digitalrepresentation of a document which retains the look and feel of thedocument in a printed form or it is a visual representation of the pageswithin digitally converted paper or electronically created documents. Inone example, the first page of each of the quantity of the searcheddocuments is presented in the scaled common image format (CIF). In oneexample, a first page of each of the quantity of the searched documentsis presented in the scaled common image format (CIF). In one example,the presenting of the quantity is done in a predetermined order. And, inone example, the predetermined order is based on a metadata parameter.In one aspect, at least one metadata parameter is presented along withthe scaled common image format (CIF). In another aspect, a portion of ametadata parameter is presented along with the scaled common imageformat (CIF). In one example, the metadata parameter is modified beforebeing presented. In one aspect, the at least one metadata parameter is adate information. The date information, for example, may be a date thedocument is created, a date contained within the document, a date thedocument is processed, such as scanned, or a date assigned to thedocument, etc.

Following block 130, in block 140, display a selected amount of pages inthe scaled common image format (CIF), wherein the at least one searchtext is shown according to whether the highlight option is enabled ordisabled. In one example, the selected amount is the pages wherein theat least one search text exists on each of the pages and wherein thesearch text is presented with the highlight option enabled. In oneexample, the selected amount is a chosen quantity of pages, and mayrange, for example, from a single page to multiple pages. In oneexample, the selected amount of pages is from a single document.

Following block 140, in block 150, add a visual distinction to one ormore pages of the quantity where the at least one search text existsfrom the rest of the pages of each document of the quantity. In oneexample, the selected amount includes all the pages with the addedvisual distinction. In one example, the selected amount is from a singledocument.

One skilled in the art would understand that although the steps inblocks 110 through 150 are written in a particular order (the step inblock 150 follows the step in block 140 which follows the step in block130 which follows the step in block 120 which follows the step in block110), the order of the steps may be interchanged without affecting thescope or spirit of the present disclosure. In one aspect, some of thesteps in FIG. 1 are performed by a computer, such as a personalcomputer. In another aspect, some of the steps in FIG. 1 are performedby a handheld device that incorporates at least one processor.

FIG. 2 illustrates a first example of pages of at least one or moredocument where the search text exists. In this example of FIG. 2 , thehighlight option of the search text is disabled. FIG. 3 illustrates asecond example of pages of at least one or more document where thesearch text exists. In this example of FIG. 3 , the highlight option ofthe search text is enabled.

FIG. 4 illustrates the first example of FIG. 2 where some of the pagesare presented with a visual distinction (i.e., in a different format)than the rest of the pages. As illustrated in FIG. 4 , the second andthird pages are presented with borders. In one aspect, a user determineswhether some of the pages are to be presented in the different format.Furthermore, the user may determine what the different format should be,for example, in using borders or some other different formatting. And,the user may determine the one or more criteria for some of the pages tobe presented in the different format. One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that other forms of different formats, not limited to bordersas illustrated herein, may be used without restricting the scope andspirit of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates the second example of FIG. 3 where some of the pagesare presented with a visual distinction (i.e., in a different format)than the rest of the pages. As illustrated in FIG. 5 , the second andthird pages are presented with borders where the highlight search textis found. In one aspect, a user determines whether some of the pages areto be presented in the different format. Furthermore, the user maydetermine what the different format should be, for example, in usingborders or some other different formatting. And, the user may determinethe one or more criteria for some of the pages to be presented in thedifferent format. One skilled in the art would understand that otherforms of different formats, not limited to borders as illustratedherein, may be used without restricting the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure.

In one aspect, cognitive pattern recognition is based on prior cognitiveknowledge. For example, recognition is based on a collective memoryabout the document being searched. The cognition pattern beingrecognized may be based on memory of one or more of the following: fileformat (e.g., Word, Excel etc.), approximate date of the document (lastmonth, last quarter, last year etc.), from and to details oncorrespondence/email/fax, keywords within documents, key sections withindocuments (e.g., pricing details within a proposal or termination clausewithin a contract); memory of how various digital file formats look.

In another example, recognition is based on cognitive intelligence. Forexample, the search is for a document that one is not familiar with,however aspects of the document are known to the searcher. In oneexample, the search is for a tax form, a court document or a lab report,etc., wherein each has its unique image pattern that is easilyrecognizable. In another example, the location of the search text (e.g.,highlighted keyword(s)) within a page in common image format allowscognitive pattern recognition. Based on common image format (e.g.,miniature visual display) of documents containing highlightedkeyword(s), one can quickly recognize and comprehend the relevance ofvarious documents like Correspondence, Presentations, Proposals CostEstimates for Cleanup etc. as events on a time line or as a relevantdocument pertaining to an issue.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a device 700 suitable for searching anddisplaying results using cognitive pattern recognition in the flowdiagram illustrated in FIG. 1 . In one aspect, the device 700 isimplemented by at least one processor comprising one or more modulesconfigured to search using cognitive pattern recognition as describedherein in blocks 710, 720, 730, 740 and 750. For example, each modulecomprises hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Inone aspect, the device 700 is also implemented by at least one memory incommunication with the at least one processor.

FIG. 8 illustrates a first example of a set of documents displayed froma search result. In this first example, illustrated in FIG. 8 , the setof documents are displayed in a scaled common image format (CIF) withmetadata information in the image tag.

FIG. 9 illustrates a second example of a set of documents displayed froma search result. In this second example, the set of documents may bedisplayed in a scaled CIF with metadata information in the image tag.For example, in FIG. 9 , only the pages with the search text (e.g.,keyword(s)) that are marked are displayed.

FIG. 10 illustrates a third example of a set of documents displayed froma search result. In this third example, the set of documents may bedisplayed in a scaled CIF with metadata information in the image tag.For example, in FIG. 10 , the pages with all the search text (e.g.,keyword(s)) found are displayed. In one example, the display includespages with the search text the highlight option enabled as well as thesearch text with the highlight option disabled. In one example, thesearch text with the highlight option enabled is displayed differentlythan the search text with the highlight option disabled.

FIG. 11 illustrates a fourth example of a set of documents displayedfrom a search result. In this fourth example, the set of documents maybe displayed in a scaled CIF with metadata information in the image tag.For example, as illustrated in FIG. 11 , all the pages within a documentare displayed. This includes pages with the search text the highlightoption enabled as well as the search text with the highlight optiondisabled. In one example, the search text with the highlight optionenabled is displayed differently than the search text with the highlightoption disabled.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second example of a flow diagram 1200 forsearching and displaying results using cognitive pattern recognition. Inblock 1210, search for at least one document with at least one searchtext. In one example, the at least one document is from a repository.For example, the repository is the Internet. In another example, therepository is a private database. In one example, the searching is basedon one or more of the following: an attribute, an attribute range or aspecial definition. Some examples of an attribute, an attribute range ora special definition are presented above in the present disclosure.

In one example, each of the at least one search text is associated witha highlight option. In one example, the at least one document does notinclude any document with an excluded text. In one example, if adocument includes an excluded text, the document is excluded from beingpresented in one or more of the displays. For example, if a documentincludes an excluded text, the document would not be presented in adisplay. In one aspect, an “excluded text” as used in the presentdisclosure may be a single word, a collection of words (i.e., a phraseof contiguous words), a symbol, a regular expression, a number, aspecial character and/or any combination thereof.

In block 1220, select to enable or to disable the highlight option foreach of the at least one search text. In one example, the at least onesearch text is a multiple search text. With multiple search text, eachof the search text is associated with a highlight option which may beenabled or disabled. And, in another example, multiple search text withtheir highlight option enabled may be differentiated differently (i.e.,distinctly) from each other. For example, a first search text with itshighlight option enabled may be bolded, a second search text with itshighlight option enabled may be underlined, a third search text with itshighlight option enabled may be italicized. And, another search text mayhave its highlight option disabled such that it is not differentiatedfrom the remaining text (non-searched text) of the at least onedocument. In yet another option, when the highlight option is enabled, acolor differentiation is added to the associated search text associatedwith that highlight option.

In block 1230, displaying a progressive relationship of the at least onedocument in scaled common image format (CIF). In one example, displayingthe progressive relationship includes displaying the following: a firstdisplay presenting the at least one document, wherein each of the atleast one document includes all of the at least one search text; asecond display presenting only pages from the at least one documentwhere the only pages presented include one or more of the at least onesearch text with its associated highlight option enabled; and a thirddisplay presenting one page from the only pages wherein all occurrencesof the search text where the highlight option for the search text isenabled are displayed simultaneously on the page.

In one example, the only pages that are presented in the second displaydo not include any page with an excluded text. In one example, the onlypages presented in the second display are all from a single documentselected from the at least one document presented in the first display.For example, a user may select the single document from the at least onedocument. The single document may be visually differentiated in thefirst display from the remaining documents presented in the firstdisplay. In one example, the single document is differentiated, forexample, by a border drawn around its CIF image. One skilled in the artwould understand that other manners of differentiating may be usedwithout affecting the scope and/or spirit of the present disclosure.

In one example, all of the at least one search text where the highlightoption is enabled are displayed simultaneously on each of the only pagesin the second display.

In one example, the one page presented in the third display is selectedfor presenting by a user. In another example, the one page presented inthe third display is selected a priori, for example, by a predefinedrule. In one example, the one page from the only pages is visuallydifferentiated in the second display from the remaining only pages. Inone example, the one page is differentiated, for example, by a borderdrawn around its CIF image. One skilled in the art would understand thatother manners of differentiating may be used without affecting the scopeand/or spirit of the present disclosure.

In one example, the at least one document presented in the first displaydoes not include any document with a first excluded text and the onlypages presented in the second display do not include any page with asecond excluded text. In one example, the first excluded text isdifferent from the second excluded text.

In one aspect, a display (such as the first display, second displayand/or third display) is a collection of one or more congruent controlsused for the purpose of displaying data in a cognitive format. In oneexample, a display is a partial or complete display area supported by adevice using the viewing application. For example, it may be a singledisplay panel or multiple display panels connected to the device. In oneexample, a display is a viewable area on a computer monitor. And, in oneexample, multiple displays may include sub dividing the same viewablearea into multiple adjacent sub areas or display panels.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a device 1300 suitable for searchingand displaying results using cognitive pattern recognition in the flowdiagram illustrated in FIG. 12 . In one aspect, the device 1300 isimplemented by at least one processor comprising one or more modulesconfigured to search using cognitive pattern recognition as describedherein in blocks 1310, 1320 and 1330. For example, each module compriseshardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. In one aspect,the device 1300 is also implemented by at least one memory incommunication with the at least one processor.

FIGS. 14 a-c illustrate an example of a set of documents displayed froma search result in accordance with the three displays described in FIG.12 . In FIG. 14 a , a first display is illustrated. As shown in theexample of FIG. 14 a , five documents are found in the search result. Arepresentative page of each of the five documents is illustrated in thefirst display. In FIG. 14 a , the third document is presented with adifferentiation (e.g., a color border) from the remaining documents. InFIG. 14 b , the first display is illustrated on the left side and asecond display is illustrated on the right side. In the second display,some or all of the pages of the third document (presented in the firstdisplay) are presented in second display. In the example of FIG. 14 b ,one of the pages is presented with a differentiation (e.g., a colorborder) from the remaining pages presented in the second display. InFIG. 14 c , the first display is illustrated on the left side, thesecond display is illustrated in the middle, and the third display isillustrated on the right side. In the third display, the page that ispresented with a differentiation in the second display is now presentedin the third display by itself. One skilled in the art would understandthat although the presentation of the first, second and third displaysare from left to right, that other arrangements of the displays (e.g.,from top to bottom, etc.) are also within the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure.

In one aspect, a document may include one or more attachments. In oneaspect, a document is an e-mail with or without attachments associatedwith the e-mail. An attachment associated with an email is labeled as anemail attachment. In another aspect, a document is a string of e-mails(i.e., “email string”) with or without email attachments. In oneexample, an e-mail includes an email body and any e-mail attachmentsassociated with the e-mail. That is, an e-mail body includes the contentof an e-mail minus the e-mail attachment(s). In one example, an e-mailstring is a set of related emails with all their respective attachments.In one example, emails are related (i.e., “related emails”) if theybelong to the same email thread. That is, emails are related if they arepart of a running list of all the successive replies starting with anoriginal email. In the present disclosure, the original email is part ofthe email string.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example display 1500 of an e-mail string in avertical manner. As shown in FIG. 15 , the email string is displayed ina column format, for example, display in a single column. That is, theemail string (which includes email bodies and email attachments) isdisplayed vertically in a column format. Although the example of FIG. 15shows the email string displayed in a single column, one skilled in theart would understand that an email string may be divided into parts suchthat part one of the email string is displayed in column one, part twoof the email string is displayed in column two, part three of the emailstring is displayed in column three, etc. and the email string in itstotality is displayed in a vertical manner.

In the example of FIG. 15 , the e-mail string includes Q quantity ofe-mails which are labeled as email1 through emailQ. As labeled in FIG.15 , email1 is labeled as 1510, email2 is labeled as 1520, email3 islabeled as 1530, e-mail4 is labeled as 1540, emailQ is labeled as 1550.One skilled in the art would understand that “Q” could include anyquantity of emails in the e-mail string. As shown in FIG. 15 , email11510 includes email body 1511, email2 1520 includes email body 1521 andone email attachment 1525 labeled as “A2_(A)”, email3 1530 includese-mail body 1531 and N quantity of email attachments 1535 labeled as“A3_(A), A3_(B) . . . A3_(N)”, email4 1540 includes email body 1541, andemailQ 1550 includes email body 1551. One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that “N” could include any quantity of email attachments.

In one example, the relationship of the plurality of emails in the emailstring is displayed in a vertical manner, for example, in achronological sequence from either top to bottom or bottom to top. Forexample, the email with the oldest chronological date may appear on thebottom while the email with the latest chronological date may appear onthe top of the display, or vice versa. A display of an email string in avertical manner is defined as displaying the relationship of each email(i.e., email bodies with their respective email attachments) in thee-mail string vertically as shown in FIG. 15 .

In one example, the email string is flipped from a vertical display to ahorizontal display. Flipping, in one example, is defined as convertingthe display from a vertical display to a horizontal display, orconverting the display from a horizontal display to a vertical display.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example display 1600 of the e-mail string of FIG.15 in a horizontal manner. As shown in FIG. 16 , the email stringincludes Q quantity of e-mails which are labeled as email1 throughemailQ. As labeled in FIG. 15 , email1 is labeled as 1510, email2 islabeled as 1520, email3 is labeled as 1530, e-mail4 is labeled as 1540,emailQ is labeled as 1550. One skilled in the art would understand that“Q” could include any quantity of emails in the e-mail string. As shownin FIG. 15 , email1 1510 includes email body 1511, email2 1520 includesemail body 1521 and one email attachment 1525 labeled as “A2_(A)”,email3 1530 includes e-mail body 1531 and N quantity of emailattachments 1535 labeled as “A3_(A), A3_(B) . . . A3_(N)”, email4 1540includes email body 1541, and emailQ 1550 includes email body 1551. Oneskilled in the art would understand that “N” could include any quantityof email attachments.

In one example, a horizontal display is defined as displaying therelationship of an email string in a horizontal manner. That is,although the chronological relationship of each email is still displayedin a vertical manner (e.g., the email with the oldest chronological datemay appear on the bottom while the email with the latest chronologicaldate may appear on the top of the display, or vice versa), the emailattachment(s) associated with each e-mail is displayed horizontally nextto its respective e-mail. In one example, one or more e-mails (e.g.,email1, email2, email 3, email4 . . . emailQ) is displayed in a scaledcommon image format (CIF). In one example, one or more of the emailattachments is displayed in a scaled common image format (CIF). In oneaspect, the display 1500 of FIG. 15 is flipped to result in the display1600 of FIG. 16 . In another aspect, the display 1600 of FIG. 16 isflipped to result in the display 1500 of FIG. 15 .

In the example display of FIG. 16 , the email bodies are displayed incolumn one (labeled as C1) while the respective email attachments aredisplayed in column two (labeled as C2). One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that although the email attachments are all displayed incolumn two in the example of FIG. 16 , other examples of displaying theemail attachments in more than one column are within the scope andspirit of the present disclosure. In one example, the email attachmentsmay be sorted according to document types (e.g., pdf, WORD, PowerPoint,Excel, etc.), according to keywords, or any other manner of sorting.And, the email attachments may be displayed in different columnsaccording to the sort. For example, all email attachments that are of afirst document type may be displayed in a first column while othere-mail attachments of a second document type may be displayed in asecond column. In one aspect, email attachments containing a firstkeyword may be displayed in a first column while email attachmentscontaining a second keyword may be displayed in a second column. In theexamples, the first and second columns for displaying the emailattachments are different from the column for displaying the emailbodies. In one aspect, a horizontal display of an email string isdefined as displaying the email bodies in one column and displaying theemail attachments in one or more columns other than the columndisplaying the email bodies. In one example, a keyword is a search text;that is, the keyword is used or is inputted for searching email bodiesand/or email attachments in an email string.

FIG. 17 illustrates a first example search result summary 1700. In FIG.17 , the e-mail string shown is the same as that shown in FIG. 15 andFIG. 16 . In the example of FIG. 17 , P quantity of search terms areused and are respectively labeled as K₁, K₂, K₃, K₄ . . . K_(P). Oneskilled in the art would understand that “P” could include any quantityof search terms. In one example, the search result summary 1700 includesthree columns with column one C1, column two C2 and column three C3. Asan example, column one C1 indicates the emails of the email string,column two C2 indicates the email body corresponding to the respectiveemails, and column three C3 indicates the email attachment(s)corresponding to the respective emails. In one example, column one C1lists information (such as metadata) of the emails in the email string.Information of an email is referred to as email information. As anexample, the information of email1 is referred to as email1 information,the information of email2 is referred to as email2 information, etc. Forexample, column one C1 may include the name of the sender, the name(s)of the recipient(s) which may or may not include recipients who arecopied in the email or who are blind copied in the email, the date theemail was sent, and/or the subject line of the email.

In one example, differential searching may be applied to the contents ofthe different columns. In one example, differential searching means thatdifferent search texts are used to search the contents of the differentcolumns. For example, column one C1 may be associated with a firstsearch text, column two C2 may be associated with a second search text,and column three C3 may be associated with a third search text. In oneexample, information of the emails (such as metadata) will be searchedfor occurrences of a first search text, the email bodies will besearched for occurrences of a second search text and the emailattachments will be searched for occurrences of a third search text. Inone example, each of the first search text, the second search text andthe third search text is different from each other. In one example, oneor more of the first search text, the second search text and the thirdsearch text are the same.

One skilled in the art would understand that although three columns areshown in FIG. 17 , that other quantities of columns are also within thespirit and scope of the present disclosure. One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that although three search texts are mentioned, that otherquantities of search text are within the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. One skilled in the art would understand that more than onesearch text may be used for searching the context of a column. In oneexample, the search result summary includes a minimum of three columns.

In one example, the search result summary 1700 includes Q quantity ofrows, labeled as R1, R2, R3, R4 . . . RQ. The quantity Q is the same asthe quantity of e-mails in the email string. In one example, the searchresult summary 1700 indicates the search terms that are present in theemail bodies and/or email attachments. For example, in the boxidentified by row R1 and column C2, the labeling of K₁ and K₄ indicatesthat search terms K₁ and K₄ are found in the email body of email1. Forexample, in the box identified by row R2 and column C3, the labeling ofK₁, K₂, K₃ and K₄ indicates that search terms K₁, K₂, K₃ and K₄ arefound in the email attachment A2_(A) of email2. For example, in the boxidentified by row R3 and column C3, the labeling of K₁, K₂, K_(P)indicates that the search terms K₁, K₂, K_(P) are found in the emailattachment A3B of email3, the labeling of K₃ indicates that the searchterm K₃ is found in the email attachment A3_(N) of email3, and thelabeling of K₁ indicates that the search term K₁ is found in the emailattachment A3_(A) of email3. For example, in the box identified by rowR4 and column C2, the labeling of K₂ indicates that search term K₂ isfound in the email body of email4. For example, in the box identified byrow RQ and column C2, the labeling of K₁ and K_(P) indicates that searchterm K₁ and search term K_(P) are found in the email body of emailQ.

FIG. 18 illustrates a second example search result summary 1800. In oneaspect, the display of the second example search result summary 1800 issimilar to the display of the first example search result summary 1700with an additional feature of showing all the attachments associatedwith all the emails displayed in column C1. In one example, for eache-mail with attachments, there's a distinction in how the attachmentsare displayed between the attachments that contain one or more of thekeywords versus the attachments that do not contain any keywords. Forexample, attachments without any search terms may be shown in phantom(i.e., displayed in phantom format). As shown in FIG. 18 , attachmentsA2_(B) and A2_(C) are shown a s dashed lines to indicate that althoughthey are attachments to email2, they do not contain any search terms. Inone example, an email attachment shown as dashed lines is in phantomformat. Similarly, attachment A4_(A) is an attachment associated withemail4 but attachment A4_(A) does not contain any search terms. Forexample, attachments that contain one or more search terms may bedisplayed with one or more symbols (e.g., K₁, K₂, K₃ . . . K_(p))whereas attachments without any search terms may be displayed withoutany search term symbols. In the example of email2, attachment A2_(A) isshown with symbols (e.g., K₁, K₂, K₃, K₄) to indicate that four searchterms K₁, K₂, K₃, K₄ are found within attachment A2_(A). However,attachments A2_(B) and A2_(C) are shown without any symbols whichindicate that no search terms are found in either attachments A2_(B) orA2_(C). For example, attachments that contain one or more search termsmay be bolded (e.g., around its borders) while attachments without anysearch terms may not be bolded. In one aspect, the attachments thatcontain one or more search terms are displayed differently than theattachments that do not contain any search terms.

FIG. 19 illustrates a third example search result summary 1900. In oneaspect, the display of the third example search result summary 1900 issimilar to the display of the first example search result summary 1700with an additional feature of showing the email attachments in column C3as multiple pages if search terms are found in multiple pages of theemail attachments. For example, in the box identified by row R2 andcolumn C3, four search terms K₁, K₂, K₃, K₄ are found in the emailattachment A2_(A). As shown, search terms K₂ and K₃ are on the firstpage of the email attachment A2_(A) while search terms K₁ and K₄ are onsubsequent pages of the email attachment A2_(A) As an example, the emailattachment A2_(A) is displayed as multiple pages, for example, with asolid line rectangle representing one page and additional dashed linerectangles representing additional pages. In one example, the exactpage(s) of where the search terms appear on the email attachment A2_(A)may be indicated, for example, by corresponding page numbers.

For example, in the box identified by row R3 and column C3, four searchterms K₁, K₂, K₃, K_(p) are found in the email attachments A3_(A),A3_(B), and A3_(N). As indicated by a three-dimensional (3D)representation of the email attachment A3_(A), the search term K₁appears in the email attachment A3_(A) on multiple pages. As indicatedby a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the email attachmentA3_(B), multiple search terms K₁, K₂, K_(p) appear in the emailattachment A3_(B) on multiple pages. In the example of the emailattachment A3_(B), search term K₂ appears on the first two pages shown,search term K_(p) appears on the third page shown and search term K₁appears on the fourth page shown. As indicated by a two-dimensional (2D)representation of the email attachment A3_(N), the search term K₃appears in the email attachment A3_(N) on a single page. In one example,the 3D representation is represented as multiple pages with a solid linerectangle and additional dashed line rectangle(s).

In one example, the email attachments A2_(A), A3_(A), A3_(B) are onlyshown with pages that include a search term. However, one skilled in theart would understand that any e-mail attachments may be shown with allits pages, whether or not the pages include a search term. Additionally,a user may elect to show some email attachments with only pages whereone or more search term is found and some email attachments with all itspages regardless of whether or not a search term is found in a page.

In one aspect, the contents of any of the example search resultsummaries of FIGS. 17, 18 and/or 19 may be shown as progressiverelationships in three or more displays. In one example, the contents ofcolumn C1 are shown in a first display. The contents of columns C2 andC3 are shown in a second display, wherein the relationships of the emailbodies and the attachment(s) to particular emails of column C1 arepreserved. That is, there are one-to-one mappings of an email body (incolumn C2) to an email (in column C1), and there are one-to-one mappingsof each attachment (in column C3) to a corresponding email (in columnC1). In one example, a third display shows only pages selected fromeither column C2 or column C3. That is, a user may choose either anemail body from column C2 or an attachment from column C3, and onlypages which contain the key terms from the chosen email body or thechosen attachment will be shown in the third display. In one example, afourth display may show a single page from the third display. In oneexample, the content of the fourth display is chosen by the user. In oneexample, the user may choose what to show in a subsequent display byclicking on a page of a document or a particular document shown in aprevious display.

In one aspect, the contents of any of the example search resultsummaries of FIGS. 17, 18 and/or 19 may be shown as progressiverelationships in three or more displays. In one example, a first displayshows the search result summary (e.g., from any one of FIGS. 17, 18, 19). The second display may show only pages with the search terms. Forexample, if a user clicks on a particular row (e.g., any of R1, R2, R3.R4 . . . RQ) of column C3, the only pages with the search terms of allthe attachments in that row and column C3 will be shown in the seconddisplay. Using FIG. 17 as an example, if the user clicks on row R2 ofcolumn C3, the only pages of attachment A2_(A) with the search termswill be shown in the second display. Note that no page from emailattachments A2_(B) and A2_(C) will be shown in the second display sincethese two email attachments do not contain any of the search terms.

If, the user clicks on row R3 of column C3, the only pages of all theattachments A3_(A), A3_(B) A3_(N) with the search terms will be shown inthe second display. If the user clicks on row R1 of column C3, nothingwill be shown in the second display since email1 does not include anyattachments. Also, even if email1 includes an email attachment, if theemail attachment does not contain any of the search term, nothing willbe shown in the second display if the user clicks on row R1 of columnC3. If the user clicks on any row of column C2, the corresponding emailbody will be shown in the second display if the corresponding e-mailbody contains one or more search terms. For example, clicking on row 1of column C2 will display the email body of email1 since it containssearch terms K₁ and K₄. However, clicking on row R2 of column C2 willresult in nothing showing in the second display since the email body ofemail2 does not contain any search terms.

In one example, if the user clicks on any row of column C1, thecorresponding email body and any email attachments of that email will beshown in the second display if the corresponding e-mail body and anyemail attachments contain one or more search terms. Thus, the seconddisplay will show the email body of the email and the only pages withthe search terms from all the email attachments associated with theemail.

In one example, a third display may show a single page from the seconddisplay. In one example, the content of the third display is chosen bythe user. In one example, the user may choose what to show in asubsequent display by clicking on a page of a document shown in aprevious display.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a progressive display 2000 of threepanels: Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 3. In the example of FIG. 20 , Panel 1displays a search result summary. In one example, the search resultsummary shown in Panel 1 is similar to the search result summary shownin FIG. 17 . For example, the search result summary shown in FIG. 20includes three columns with column one C1, column two C2 and columnthree C3. As an example, column one C1 indicates the emails of the emailstring, column two C2 indicates the email body corresponding to therespective emails, and column three C3 indicates the email attachment(s)corresponding to the respective emails.

Panel 2 displays multiple pages wherein each page includes at least onesearch term. In one example, the multiple pages displayed in Panel 2 mayinclude pages from the email body of column C2 and/or pages from theemail attachments shown in column C3 associated with the emails shown incolumn C1. In one example, each page displayed in Panel 2 is shown withat least one symbol (K₁, K₂, K₃, K₄ . . . K_(P)) to indicate whichsearch term(s) the page includes. In one example, if an attachmentincludes multiple pages that contain search terms, the multiple pages ofthat attachment may be shown as multiple pages stacked on top of eachother (see attachments A3_(A) and A3_(B) as examples). In one example,the multiple pages displayed in Panel 2 are only pages associated withone or more search terms. In one example, the only pages may beprioritized using a particular condition for display. A particularcondition may be the quantity of search terms on a page. For example,only pages with all search terms found in each of the only pages will bedisplayed in panel 2 first before displaying other only pages with fewerthan all the search terms.

In one example, a first set of links (L₁, L₂, L₃, L₄ . . . L_(Q)) isincluded to show the relationships between the search result summaryshown in Panel 1 and the multiple pages displayed in Panel 2. Forexample, link L₁ shows the relationship of the email body of email1 andthe page ebl displayed in Panel 2. For example, link L₂ shows therelationship of attachment A2_(A) shown in Panel 1 and the pages(labeled as A2_(A)) in Panel 2. The other links (L₃, L₄ . . . L_(Q))show similar relationships between the search result summary shown inPanel 1 and the respective multiple pages displayed in Panel 2. In theexample of email4, both the email body eb4 and its attachment A4_(A)each contains at least one search term. Thus, Panel 2 shows both theemail body eb4 and the attachment A4_(A), and link L₄ shows therelationship of the email body eb4 and the attachment A4_(A) to email4.

Panel 3 displays one or more selected pages from the multiple pagesdisplayed in Panel 2. In one example, a selection is made so that Panel3 only shows pages from the multiple pages displayed in Panel 2 with thesearch term K_(P). One skilled in the art would understand that it iswithin the spirit and scope of the present disclosure to includeselections based on more than one search term. That is, in anotherexample, the selection may include multiple search terms, for example,Panel 3 may display pages that contain one or more selected searchterms.

Although not illustrated in FIG. 20 , Panel 3 may also display pageschosen by a user based on the multiple pages displayed in Panel 2. Thatis, a user may choose to display in Panel 3 any of the multiple pagesshown in Panel 2. And, in another example, Panel 3 may display pagesthat contain one or more selected search terms along with pages chosenby a user that may not contain any of the selected search terms.

In one example, a second set of links, indicated by “ll_(x)” where “x”identifies the email, is included to show the relationships between themultiple pages displayed in Panel 2 and the pages displayed in Panel 3.For example, ll₃ indicates that page 1 displayed in Panel 3 is a pagefrom attachment A3_(B) displayed in Panel 2. For example, ll_(q)indicates that page 2 displayed in Panel 3 is a page from email body ebqdisplayed in Panel 2. In one aspect, the page(s) shown in Panels 2 or 3may highlight only the selected search term but not highlight otherremaining search terms on the pages. In another example, not shown inFIG. 20 , Panel 4 may show a single page chosen, for example, by a user,wherein the single page may be chosen from the contents of any of theother previous panels. In one example, the displays of FIG. 20 mayinclude only the contents of Panel 1, Panel 3 and Panel 4. In thisexample, the contents of Panel 3 are selected based on one or moresearch terms.

In one example, emails are related (i.e., “related emails”) if theybelong to the same email thread. That is, emails are related if they arepart of a running list of all the successive replies starting with anoriginal email. In one example, the original email is part of the emailstring. In one example, individual emails belonging to the same emailthread in the email body may be displayed as individual sub-documentsdisplayed in a scaled common image format (CIF) in panel C2.

In one aspect, although the present disclosure discusses displaying inscaled common image format (CIF) or in common image format, the displaysdiscussed in the present disclosure are also applicable to scaledformat. Scaled formats may not include a different sized replica of theimage of the original document. In one example, a scaled format of adocument may be a digital representation which includes the contents ofthe document, wherein the digital representation is displayed in adifferent size (smaller or larger) representation of the originaldocument. In one example, a scaled format is a different sized digitalrepresentation of the native format of the document. For example, adocument with WORD format as its native format may be presented in ascaled format as a different sized digital representation also in WORDformat.

One skilled in the art would understand that the steps disclosed in theexample flow diagrams of the present disclosure may be interchanged intheir order without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentdisclosure. Also, one skilled in the art would understand that the stepsillustrated in the flow diagrams are not exclusive and other steps maybe included or one or more of the steps in the example flow diagrams maybe deleted without affecting the scope and spirit of the presentdisclosure.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativecomponents, logical blocks and/or algorithm steps described inconnection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, firmware, computer software, or combinationsthereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware,firmware and software, various illustrative components, logical blocksand/or algorithm steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware, firmware or software depends upon the particular applicationand design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisansmay implement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope or spirit of thepresent disclosure.

For example, for the various steps described in the blocks of the flowdiagrams, implementation may include hardware and/or software. In someexample, a memory controller residing in the host or external to thehost may house the hardware and/or software. For a hardwareimplementation, the processing units may be implemented within one ormore application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signalprocessors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors,other electronic units designed to perform the functions describedtherein, or a combination thereof. With software, the implementation maybe through modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform thefunctions described therein. The software codes may be stored in memoryunits and executed by a processor unit. Additionally, the variousillustrative flow diagrams, logical blocks and/or algorithm stepsdescribed herein may also be coded as computer-readable instructionscarried on any computer-readable medium known in the art or implementedin any computer program product known in the art. In one aspect, thecomputer-readable medium includes non-transitory computer-readablemedium.

Computer-readable medium may include both computer storage media andcommunication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of acomputer program from one place to another. A storage media may be anyavailable media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example,and not limitation, such computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Forexample, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or otherremote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair,digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber opticcable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared,radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk anddisc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, opticaldisc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc wheredisks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer-readable media.

In one example, the illustrative components, flow diagrams, logicalblocks, modules and/or algorithm steps described herein are implementedor performed with one or more processors. In one aspect, a processor iscoupled with a memory which stores data, metadata, program instructions,etc. to be executed by the processor for implementing or performing thevarious flow diagrams, logical blocks and/or modules described herein.For example, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a device 600 comprising aprocessor 610 in communication with a memory 620 for executing thealgorithms in the flow diagrams illustrated in the present disclosure.In one aspect, the memory 620 is located within the processor 610. Inanother aspect, the memory 620 is external to the processor 610. In oneaspect, the processor includes circuitry for implementing or performingthe various flow diagrams, logical blocks and/or modules describedherein.

The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enableany person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure.Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other aspects without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for searching and displaying anemail string, the method comprising: searching a search text in theemail string, wherein the email string comprises at least one email andwherein at least one of the at least one email comprises an emailinformation, an email body and an email attachment, wherein the searchtext is found in one or more of the email information, the email body orthe email attachment; and displaying the email string on a displayscreen in a progressive relationship, wherein the progressiverelationship includes a plurality of columns displayed horizontallyadjacent to each other and wherein a first of the plurality of adjacentcolumns displays the email information, a second of the plurality ofadjacent columns displays the email body and a third of the plurality ofadjacent columns displays the email attachment and wherein there is afirst one-to-one mapping of the email attachment to the email body, anda second one-to-one mapping of the email body to the email information.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the email information, the email bodyand the email attachment all correspond to a single email.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising enabling a highlight option associatedwith the search text.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the emailattachment is displayed in phantom format.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein one or more of the email information, the email body and theemail attachment corresponds to a plurality of emails.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising displaying a unique symbol on the one ormore of the email information, the email body and the email attachmentfor indicating that the search text is found, wherein the unique symbolcorresponds to one of the at least one email.
 7. The method of claim 6,further comprising sorting the at least one email by document type. 8.The method of claim 6, further comprising flipping the display from ahorizontal manner to a vertical manner, or from a vertical manner to ahorizontal manner.
 9. The method of claim 5, further comprisingdisplaying a plurality of symbols on the one or more of the emailinformation, the email body and the email attachment for indicating thatthe search text is found, wherein each of the plurality of symbolscorresponds to one of the at least one email.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising flipping the display from a horizontal manner to avertical manner, or from a vertical manner to a horizontal manner.